Dental Emergencies

This week was dental pain and dental emergency week in the ER. I had so many people come in with dental pain I thought, wow what would people do in an disaster situation and with dental pain. Now to me dental pain in the worse thing on earth, that and back pain. In reality keep up to date on your dental care, don’t let it get out of hand. If everything goes to pot there will be no dentists around so you will have to be careful with your teeth. So here are some suggestions to dealing with dental pain in a disaster or emergency setting.

Tips for Dealing with Dental Emergencies

Bitten Lip or Tongue

Clean the area gently with a cloth and apply cold compresses to reduce any swelling.

Broken Tooth

Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the area. Use cold compresses on the area to keep any swelling down.

Jaw-Possibly Broken

Apply cold compresses to control swelling

Knocked Out Tooth

Hold the tooth by the crown and rinse off the root of the tooth in water if it’s dirty. Do not scrub it or remove any attached tissue fragments. If possible, gently insert and hold the tooth in its socket. If that isn’t possible, put the tooth in a cup of milk and get to the dentist (if that is even an option) as quickly as possible. Remember to take the tooth with you!

Objects Caught Between Teeth

Try to gently remove the object with dental floss; avoid cutting the gums. Never use a sharp instrument to remove any object that is stuck between your teeth.

Toothache

Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean it out. Gently use dental floss or an interdental cleaner to ensure that there is no food or other debris caught between the teeth. Never put aspirin or any other painkiller against the gums near the aching tooth because it may burn the gum tissue.